


The First Christmas

by endlessnightlock (Endlessnightlock)



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Christmastime mishaps, Drunk Katniss!, F/M, Humor, Sexual Content, Song prompts, Swearing, everlark christmas gifts, modern a/u
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:54:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21747877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endlessnightlock/pseuds/endlessnightlock
Summary: This is just a place to cross post a WIP Christmas story based on Everlark Christmas Gifts Music Prompts, simply because it bugs me to have separate parts of my drabbles floating around on Tumblr only with no rhyme or reason :). It makes me happy to have them all together somewhere.I'll post a new chapter here after posting updates to ECG earlier in the day.Chapter 1: Santa BabyChapter 2: I'll Be Home For ChristmasChapter 3: I Only Want You For ChristmasChapter 4: Last Christmas
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen & Primrose Everdeen, Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 80
Kudos: 120





	1. Santa Baby

Katniss tipped her shot back, draining the last drop of Jagermeister. By this one, her third, they’d begun to go down much smoother. Once the last of it was gone, she slammed the glass down on the bar and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, much to the delight of Johanna and Finnick. 

“You’re throwing ‘em back awful quick tonight there, girl on fire,” her much too handsome for his own good friend hooted, resting his elbow on the bar top and holding his hand up for a high five.

“Hell yes I am,” Katniss said loudly (or was she shouting… she wasn’t sure anymore) as they slapped palms, maybe a little more forcefully than she needed to since Finnick winced at the contact.

Johanna leaned close to her ear so she could be heard without shouting because it was so loud in the bar tonight that you couldn’t even hear yourself think. Which was fine with Katniss, she hadn’t come here to think, she’d come here to _drink_. Or something like that. While everyone else in her life seemed like they were having a great time, she just really didn’t… she didn’t like Christmas at all. She pretty much fucking hated it, honestly. 

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Katniss asked, leaning in the direction of her friend because she hadn’t quite caught what she was saying.

“I said there’s a hot blond guy making eyes at you,” Jo repeated, pointing towards a table full of guys on the other side of the bar.

Katniss squinted in the general direction Jo was pointing towards, but she couldn’t tell which guy she meant. There were about twenty at that table, and they were all kind of a blur at the moment. Not that it mattered. “Men though, am I right? Who needs them. Fuck that shit.” 

It should be noted that Katniss only said the word _fuck_ this frequently when she’d been drinking. But she totally wasn’t drunk. (She was drunk.)

Jo’s eyes lit up with mirth. “That’s usually my line. But you’re right, and I’d bet that blondie over there would do the job right by the way he’s looking at you.”

“Hmmph,” Katniss said, sliding down off the barstool. She tugged on the ridiculously short dress that Johanna had forced her to wear tonight. It barely covered her ass, and Katniss was more of a “keep my ass covered” kind of girl. “I gotta pee.”

“Do you need any help?” Jo asked as she sat down on the abandoned stool. “If not I’ll stay here and keep Finny company.”

She took a step and only wobbled slightly. That had to be the heels Jo forced her into wearing and not the shots. “Nah, I got it.”

“Hurry back, your turn is almost up for karaoke.” Finnick reminded her with a smirk.

Katniss scowled at him. “Yeah, and like I said, I didn’t want to do it. Thanks for signing me up, by the way, fuckers.” 

“You’re welcome,” Jo said dismissively as she turned her back. Katniss heard her friend say something to the bartender about being thirsty as she made her way to the ladies' room. 

The bar was crowded tonight with college kids home for Christmas, and the fact that she was currently a lot closer to thirty than twenty made Katniss feel a little sorry for herself. “Fucking holidays,” she grumbled under her breath, weaving through the crowd.

She managed to make it to a bathroom stall without incident, the only issue being an astronomically long wait to get there. One girl waiting in line eventually took it upon herself to pee in the trash can instead of waiting on an open toilet. 

“Maybe it’s time to go home,” Katniss grumbled, pushing the heavy bathroom door open after she’d taken her turn. She stalked out into the hallway, and right into the broad chest of her old high school crush. The boy she’d silently watched stride the halls surrounded by his friends. Mr. Popular, captain of the wrestling team, school god, and as a cruel joke also incredibly nice. She’d have hated him if he hadn’t been so damn sweet. He’d been too _everything_ for her, and probably still didn’t know who she was to this day.

“Katniss!” he exclaimed, grabbing her by the shoulders as her small body bounced off his. 

Peeta hadn’t been one of the tallest guys in her class, but that didn’t make him any less attractive. And besides, she was only 5’2 herself, so who was she to judge? As her eyes unabashedly raked up and down him (that was definitely the alcohol) she could see that time had been good to him. He was even better looking now than he used to be. “Peeta?” she asked, stunned that he knew who she was. 

He grinned, a brilliant flash of white teeth.

“Hey, err, hi. So, what are you doing here?” Katniss placed her hands on his chest to steady herself as her head began to start spinning a little. The Jager may have been starting to catch up with her.

He stared down at her, and she wondered if he’d been drinking too. His face was so open, in a way she’d never seen him look at her. “I’m in town for Christmas,” he supplied.

“Oh,” she said, not particularly sure why she hadn’t taken her hands off him yet or why he was still holding her by the arms. It didn’t feel awkward or weird though, it was just nice.

“My brother is getting married on Friday, so I had to come home this year,” Peeta continued. “I’m here with a bunch of his friends- we’re having his bachelor party tonight.”

“That’s kind of lame, isn’t it?” Katniss said without thinking. She flushed in embarrassment. “Err, sorry. You’re not lame. I mean, I don’t really know you, so I’m _assuming_ you’re not lame is what I meant.

Peeta laughed, finally letting go of her and stepping back. “No, I am kind of lame,” he said, his eyes crinkling up in the corners the way she always remembered them doing way back when.

She sighed. Why was she such a fucking disaster? “Well, if you’re lame than that makes two of us,” she admitted, stepping back and pushing her hair behind her ears. “My friends drug me out tonight. I usually just stay home, this isn’t typically my scene.”  
  


“I don’t believe that,” Peeta said, smiling at her as he leaned against the wall. “God Katniss, you don’t even know. You’re still so gorgeous.”

Katniss swore that her brain stopped working. Peeta Mellark just called her gorgeous? 

“What?” she asked, incredulously. She couldn’t have heard that right.

“You scared the hell out of me in high school, you know that?” he said, stepping closer. She could smell beer on his breath, but it wasn’t unpleasant, mixed with his spicy cologne and man smell. The whole effect was decidedly masculine and overwhelming.

“Me?” Katniss would swear she was hallucinating. If she hadn’t watched the bartender pour out her drinks, she’d swear she’d been roofied because this moment was so surreal.

The voice of the Haymitch Abernathy, karaoke king of Panem, came over the speakers before Peeta had a chance to respond. It was still difficult to hear over the din of the bar, but his gravelly voice was like a dash of cold water thrown in her face. 

It sucked. “ _Right now we have Thresh, followed by Katniss next in the lineup! Sweetheart, you’d better get your ass moving in my direction.”_

“Of fucking course,” Katniss grumbled under her breath. If it hadn’t been for stupid Finnick and Jo she could’ve stood here all night by the bathrooms talking to Peeta Mellark. 

Assholes.

Peeta’s eyes lit up. “I'm sitting with my brother and all of his stupid friends by the stage. Can I walk you over there? Maybe we can catch up after.”

Katniss gave him her brightest smile, one that may have been slightly wider than normal due to the lingering effects of the alcohol. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

  
  
  
  


“So what exactly did they sign me up for?” she asked Haymitch as he handed her the microphone. The small stage in the back corner of the bar was decorated in glittery silver strings of tinsel with large red and green ornaments interspersed here and there. He’d also switched out the filter over his lights to a lovely shade of Jim Carey Grinch Green. It was nauseatingly festive.

Katniss hoped they hadn’t picked that stupid Mariah Carey song again, because despite what Jo kept trying to tell her, she really couldn’t hit those high notes. 

She glanced over Haymitch’s shoulder at Peeta, who was smiling broadly at her. As soon as he got back to their table, his brother had plunked a Santa hat down on his head. 

Tis the season.

“Aww, it’s a surprise. Don’t sweat it, you’ve got the moxie for this one,” Haymitch patted her on the shoulder as he stepped off the stage. “I wouldn’t let them sign you up for _All I Want For Christmas Is You_ again after last year’s debacle.”

“Thanks, Haymitch,” she told him, as she moved to stand in front of the microphone and behind the monitor. Katniss wasn’t sure how her friends managed to get her drunk and on stage every year at this time. They knew she didn’t like singing in public, but it was like Finnick and Johanna intentionally preyed upon her dislike of Christmas by getting her drunk and embarrassing her. Later, Jo always claimed that she was just trying to get her out of her shell.

_Buh-dum de dum, de-dum_

Katniss cringed as she saw the words to Eartha Kit’s Santa Baby begin rolling across the monitor. She felt her face heat up w the guys at Peeta’s table began to whoop, and was fairly certain she could hear Johanna’s loud cackle from across the bar.

Why couldn’t the stage floor open up and let her drop through? She was no seductress, this was about as far out of her comfort zone as she could get. Fuck _._

“ _Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree for me_

_Been an awful good girl_

_Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight”_

This was mortifying. She couldn’t even look at Peeta in his Santa hat. For some reason though, she kept on singing.

“ _Think of all the fun I've missed_

_Think of all the fellas that I haven't kissed_

_Next year I could be also good_

_If you'll check off my Christmas list”_

But then, something told her she should look up.

There was no mistaking the heated look on his face as he watched her, his blue eyes wide and seemingly dumbfounded. She’d never had a man stare at her that intently.

And that look? It did something to her. Katniss shimmied, actually fucking shimmied in the ridiculously short dress and high heels that Johanna (thank you, Johanna, you are the best friend a girl could ever have) had forced her into as she sang the next lyrics.

“ _Come and trim my Christmas tree_

_With some decorations bought at Tiffany_

_I really do believe in you_

_Let's see if you believe in me_

_Buh-do-pe doo”_

Peeta’s eyes were practically burning a hole through her. It was glorious. She felt like taking off and doing a victory lap around the bar, and then throwing herself into his lap and letting him have his way with her. Which he obviously wanted to do.

And oh, it would have been such a perfect night, a night where Katniss would have wanted to go back in time and tell her high school self, “We did it!” 

Unfortunately, fate had other plans. 

As she stepped off the stage she tripped over a cord that she hadn’t seen laying there in the dim lighting. It caught her at a bad angle in those _stupid fucking heels,_ wrapping around her ankle until she couldn’t get away from its snake-like grip. Before she knew what was happening, Katniss fell and hit her head on the floor. 

Her head started swimming in earnest, and as everything was turning black her last thought was _I’m never going out with those assholes again._

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. I'll Be Home For Christmas (If Only In My Dreams)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katniss spends her Christmas in the hospital and has an unexpected visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did some editing on this chapter because I wasn't completely happy with the way it looked on Tumblr. What can I say? I'm too impatient sometimes. ( One day I will learn. Hopefully it's this day. We'll see.)

“Hi sis,” Prim called, walking through the door of Katniss’s room, her arms weighed down by a large “bouquet” of candy bars she’d picked up on her way to the hospital. “Are you feeling any better?” 

She’d already been here once this morning with flowers and had received a less-than-stellar reaction. Prim decided that the chocolate bars, artfully arranged together as they were and pretty damn cute, would do more to brighten her sister’s foul mood than another vase of hospital gift-shop carnations mixed with white roses. 

Katniss managed not to scowl at least. She leaned back against her pillow, stretching her neck from side to side as she thought about Prim’s question. “My head still hurts,” she admitted finally as she tried to get comfortable. “And my elbow.”

“Can you hand me my water?” she asked, unable to reach it herself since her left arm was in a sling. 

When her body had decided to take a drunken topple at the bar the night before last, Katniss had landed at an awkward angle and slammed not only the back of her head but her elbow as well into the concrete floor.

She’d given herself a concussion and managed to break her olecranon with one faulty step. (Olecranon was a term that Katniss had no prior knowledge of before last night, but she certainly couldn’t say that any longer. She was now intimately familiar with the term, since that particular bone kept hurting like a dirty bastard between doses of her pain meds.)

“You can have headaches and dizzy spells for weeks after a concussion,” Prim reminded her as she handed over the big plastic cup. “That’s another reason to take it easy. You should be glad they’re keeping you here. It would be hard to take care of yourself at home for a few days.”

“My being stuck here another day means we’ll get to see each other on Christmas,” Katniss added drilly before she pressed her lips around the oversized plastic straw. She took a big slurp of the tepid water. It didn’t taste great, but it’s not like this place was a luxury resort. It was a hospital.

“At least we get to spend part of the day together,” Prim added, trying to cheer her up. “I’ll come up on my lunch break.”

Katniss let out a deep sigh. This situation sucked, but she probably shouldn’t take her frustrations out on Prim, although a snarky comment was hanging on the tip of her tongue, ready to be unleashed. It wasn’t her sister’s fault that she’d gotten drunk and made a complete ass out of herself. 

What a disaster. So much potential, all ruined by one misstep in the semi-dark barroom.

And the thing that bothered her the most about was the missed opportunity with Peeta. Well, come to think of it, he might not haunt her as much as a broken bone and the possibility of arthritis once it healed, but the “what-ifs” and “could-have-beens” were running a close second in the list of regrets. If only she’d hadn’t drank so much…

It wasn’t like her to do things like that, or to be so irresponsible. There was just something about the holidays that made her act weird. Was she trying to make herself feel better about her life? If so it sure didn't seem to be working. 

“Never again,” Katniss mumbled, closing her eyes and leaning back. She wasn’t letting Finnick and Johanna talk her into another night like that next year.

“What’s that?” Prim asked.

“Oh, nothing. Or everything. Whatever,” Katniss answered moodily.

And she’d probably never see Peeta again. Even if he’d been interested in her that night, he surely wasn’t tripping over himself to try and find her after that bout of extreme idiocy everyone had witnessed at the bar. 

He was probably only in town for a few more days, anyway. One of those she’d be spending in the hospital, and the other would probably be spent laying on the couch with Buttercup. 

Not that she’d want him to see her like this. Katniss shuddered at the thought. She hadn’t showered in days. She felt cruddy and her hair was gross.

  
“I brought your charger by the way,” Prim said, taking the water cup and sitting it on the little tray table next to the bed. She then moved things around so that the portable tray could be reached with her good arm whenever she needed to grab something.

She smiled up at her little sister. “Thanks, duck. Can you plug my phone in for me? It died sometime this morning.”

While Prim got her phone set up her, Katniss’s nurse came in to check on her and give her another one of her pain pills. She swallowed it quickly, ready for the relief it would bring. She hadn’t slept well last night and was starting to feel drowsy. 

Once the nurse was gone, they chatted for a few minutes until finally, Prim took a peek at the wall clock. “Hey, I’ve get going,” she said. “Do you need me to bring anything when I come back?”

She shook her head. “No, I’ll text you if I think of something. You’re still planning to stop back by before your shift starts in the morning?”

Prim bent over and kissed her sister on the forehead. “Yep. Get some rest okay?”

Katniss’s eyes were starting to feel heavy already. “I don’t think I can help it.”

  
  
  
  


After a short nap, Katniss woke up feeling in better spirits. An aide brought her dinner, and she soon found herself watching a sappy movie on the Hallmark Channel and picking at the food on her tray. She grabbed her phone when it vibrated with a message from Jo. 

**J: Hey brainless, you have a visitor coming in to see you soon. Look sharp**

Katniss groaned. She wasn’t up to seeing anybody, not even one her close friends- her plans for the evening consisted of breaking into her candy bar bouquet and gorging on chocolate in hopes of trying to forget about this screwed-up episode of her life. And Peeta.

Maybe if she was feeling adventurous she’d ask the nurse to bring her some hot chocolate. Since Jo had already been here earlier, her mind went to the next most logical choice.

**K: Tell Finnick he doesn’t need to come, I know Annie is in town tonight. You two have caused me enough trouble for one week :).**

Johanna quickly replied.

**J: It’s not Finnick.**

“Who on earth…” Katniss said out loud, studying her phone. There wasn’t anyone else she could think of who would come to see her on Christmas Eve.

There was a light knock on her door, the type of noise the hospital staff used before entering the room. "Come in," she called out, distractedly as she set her phone down next to her on the bed. Hearing the sound of a heavy tread, Katniss looked up to see the last person she expected walking into her room.

It was Peeta, carrying a paper bag under his arm. Katniss couldn’t keep from gaping at him from her spot on the bed.

What was he doing here?

He stepped further into the room with a shy grin. “I hope you don’t mind me stopping by. I, err, wanted to see how you were doing. I saw your friend at the bakery today and she said you wouldn’t mind some visitors. So here I am,” he finished, running his hand up and down the back of his neck and looking gorgeous, yet reassuringly awkward at the same time. “I hope this is alright,” he repeated, sounding anxious when she didn't answer him.

Anxiety was an emotion she was familiar with because equals parts of it and excitement were currently warring inside her body. Finally, Katniss found her voice. “No, I don’t mind,” she told him, shifting on the bed a little.

She was suddenly very aware of her arm sling and her unshowered body, and the fact that she was pretty much trapped in her room with the man-boy she’d spent years salivating over. She probably looked more like roadkill than a human being, and it wasn’t a particularly pleasant feeling.

Peeta stared at her expectantly and Katniss felt her face heating up, unsure of what he expected her to do next. Fortunately, her brain decided to kick back on again. “Oh, sorry. Do you want to sit down?” she finally asked.

He nodded. “Here,” he said, shuffling his feet for a moment before stepping closer to her bed and handing over the bag he'd carried in tucked under his arm. “I brought you something. I was going to get you some flowers too, but the gift shop was closed.”

“It is Christmas Eve,” Katniss reminded him softly, taking the bag from his grip. When his fingers brushed hers, she felt a little jolt go up through her arm.

“That’s probably why,” Peeta agreed, laughing at himself a little. She liked the sound of it. “Anyway, I thought I remembered you liked those.”

She opened the bag and peeked inside, her mouth already watering at the smell before she even got a look. “Cheese buns,” she said, her throat going tight with emotion.

Katniss hadn’t eaten a Mellark Bakery cheese bun since she was a senior in high school. They’d been infrequent even then. There hadn’t been a lot of money in the Everdeen’s budget for extras, so she’d only stopped in the bakery once a month or so to get a bun and try to sneak a peek at Peeta while he was working behind the counter. And after he left for college, the place just felt like a reminder of missed opportunities, of not feeling like she could have ever been good enough for him. Disappointment. So despite how good the buns were, she stayed away permanently.

“Thank you Peeta,” she said, feeling ridiculously emotional. It must be those damn meds.

“You’re welcome,” he answered, sounding pleased as he sat down in the chair at the end of her bed. Peeta stretched his legs out a little and folded his arms across his chest in a relaxed manner. “I wasn’t even sure if you still lived around here anymore. My brothers never mention seeing you.”

“I’m here, I just don’t get out much,” Katniss admitted. “I can’t believe you brought me these. I haven’t had one in years!”

“Aren’t you going to try them?” he prodded her with a smile. “They’re still warm.”

Katniss couldn’t believe he remembered that about her. She took a bun out of the bag and held it up to her mouth, sinking her teeth into the warm, cheesy bread and closing her eyes in bliss. “Ohmygod, I’d forgotten how good these are,” she told him, her words rushing out and garbled around a mouthful.

“Glad you like them,” Peeta said, rubbing his thumb against the corner of his mouth, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. At that moment, she realized he wasn’t exactly sure what to say to her. Giving herself something to do as well as eating them because they were delicious, Katniss finished one bun and snatched another out of the bag. 

“You used to come in and get those sometimes,” he finally said, nodding at the bread in her hand, “and every time, my brothers would tease me about you. They kept trying to get me to talk to you, but I ah,” he laughed at himself again while Katniss watched him in disbelief, suddenly unable to chew or swallow. 

She sat and stared at him in shock, her cheeks full like a squirrel with a mouthful of nuts. 

He let out a rush of air at the admission. “I never could get the nerve up to do it back then. But hey, you only live once, right?”

Katniss nodded dumbly.

“So here goes. Can I take you out while I’m in town?” he asked, his voice dipping down a little hesitantly on the last words. “Maybe for dinner?”

“Huh?” Katniss asked around a mouthful of bread. “Reawy?” 

Peeta looked confused, so she held up a finger on her good side, letting him know that he should give her a minute to deal with the bun in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed, and all the time he stared down at his hands. He was nervous, Katniss realized. She’d never seen anything like it in her life. 

She didn’t make guys nervous, especially not The Guy.

“Sorry about that,” she told him finally. 

Peeta looked up at her and shrugged. He still wouldn’t make eye contact. “That’s okay. And you don’t have to feel obligated if you don’t want to go out with me or anything. I mean, maybe it was presumptuous of me to assume that just because we talked at the bar-”

“Yes,” she interrupted, almost giddy from the pure rush of adrenaline. Katniss didn’t mind anything at the moment, not her broken olecranon (that, fortunately, wasn’t killing her right now), or the fact that she wasn’t going to be home for Christmas. Who gave a shit? She was going to go out with Peeta Mellark.

“I mean, I’m stuck here until tomorrow afternoon at least,” she continued, “but yes, I’ll go out with you. I don’t know what exactly I’ll be up to doing, not ice skating or sledding or anything like that but yeah, why not?” At this point, she was babbling incoherently but honestly, who could blame her? “I’d love to.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I love to hear from you guys. Thanks for reading!


	3. I Only Want You For Christmas

y “I don’t think the snowplows have been out,” Peeta commented as he opened the car door to let her inside. “The roads are completely covered.”

It’d been snowing lightly when they arrived a few hours ago, and the weather hadn’t let up at all while they were inside the restaurant, leaving downtown Panem looking like a winter wonderland. It was beautiful if you were into that kind of stuff. 

Unfortunately for Katniss, the sidewalks were now very slippery with at least two inches of new snow covering a layer of ice beneath, and the sling holding her arm in place left her feeling off-balance. She didn’t want to think about what might happen if she fell.

The spill she took earlier in the week was more than enough to last her a lifetime. If she hadn’t been worried about the way the invitation might sound, Katniss would’ve just asked Peeta to have dinner at her apartment tonight and avoided going out in the icy weather altogether. 

She still wasn’t feeling great; her elbow was sore, and she was having dizzy spells from time to time. There was no way she was going to let a little thing like pain keep her from going on this date, though. 

It’d taken them too many years to get to this point. 

“The streets are pretty much deserted,” she said, gingerly sliding into the passenger seat while trying to keep the pressure off her left arm. “I don’t think too many places are open tonight anyway.”

He chuckled. “Panem never changes, does it?”

“Not much.” Their hometown was the same old one-horse place it had always been, so it wasn’t surprising that nobody else was out two days after Christmas. The only reason they settled on going out tonight was that Peeta had to be back at work tomorrow, and he just planned on driving back to the Capitol once their date was over. 

“It kind of makes you feel like we’re the only ones in the world,” Katniss said whimsically. It was a funny feeling, being out with Peeta in their deserted home town in the middle of a snowstorm. It made her feel disassociated from her mundane life. Like anything was possible.

Peeta smiled but didn’t comment. “Here, let me do that for you,” he said instead, squatting down beside her and grabbing a hold of her seatbelt. “It looked like you were having a hard time doing this one-handed.”

Katniss froze as he leaned inside. A few snowflakes blew in the open car door, but she wasn’t cold. Peeta’s body was almost completely draped across hers. 

She found it impossible to breathe when he was so close, pinning her in place with the light pressure of his broad shoulders. She could smell the heady mix of cologne and soap on his skin, with the peppermint he’d popped in his mouth on the way out of the restaurant. Her face was only inches away from his and she stared at his long eyelashes, visible in the dark from the glow of the streetlamp shining off of them. Katniss was feeling overwhelmed and much too warm despite the chill of the outside air. It was a beautiful agony. 

Time stood still as clicked the buckle in place. 

Katniss watched in silence, afraid to even breathe for fear of revealing too much as he hesitated. After a moment of painful anticipation, his hand came to rest on top of her outer thigh.

At that very first touch, the rush of heat curling through her veins was like nothing she’d ever experienced before in her life; not one damn time had she ever felt this intensity with anyone else, and all it took was his simple, fairly innocent touch. Her mind froze, completely unable to have a conscious thought with him surrounding her the way he was. Peeta looked up at her finally, their noses only inches away from each other. 

“Thank you,” she finally whispered, hardly able to get the words out as he looked down at her mouth. She let out a nervous laugh at the way his eyes had gone crossed at their proximity to each other.

The levity broke her nervousness and then, because she really couldn’t help herself and because it was Peeta and because she’d always wanted to, Katniss leaned in and pressed her lips to his. 

His mouth was soft and warm and perfect. Peeta let out a surprised little sound, and she closed her eyes when he kissed her back. His hand traveled across her hip, slowly going higher and higher until he left it to rest at the curve of her waist inside her unzipped coat. The action made her shiver, and she felt him smile against her lips. Finally, Katniss opened her eyes as he pulled away. 

“You’re welcome,” he said, his voice low and buttery. Katniss felt like she was going to melt when he kissed her again.

This time their lips parted, and it went a little deeper but slowly, in no hurry to move things faster because this particular moment just felt right. 

“You might want to get in your seat,” Katniss finally suggested, pulling back in an attempt to catch her breath. She realized that Peeta was straining to keep his balance, squatted down the way he was and half-in, half-out of the car. “You could slip and fall, and what am I going to do if you hurt yourself?”

“You could make me feel better, I’m sure,” he replied cheekily, kissing her the tip of her nose before backing away and shutting the door behind him.

  
  
  


“Do you want to come in?” Katniss asked as Peeta pulled his car into one of the spaces next to her apartment. “I have some wine I bought for Christmas and I haven’t had a chance to drink it yet, what with the Percocet and all.”

He chuckled. “Probably wouldn’t be a great combination.”

“Not if I want to be able to move my body of my own free will. That’s what Prim warned me would happen if I mixed them, anyway.” Katniss glanced over at Peeta, wondering what he thought about the invitation. Was she being too forward?

It wasn’t like she was thinking about trying to seduce him; that was pretty laughable in her present state.

Also, there was the fact that Katniss was pretty sure she’d never seduced a man in her life. No, there were no naughty plans in mind- she just wanted to spend some more time with Peeta before he made the long drive home.

“Yeah. I probably can’t stay too long, but why not?” he said easily. “Here, let me help you out.”

  
  
  
  


Half an hour later they were sitting on the couch. Katniss was straddling his lap, and they were making out furiously.

Well, as furiously as making out could be done while one party was wearing an arm sling, which was very aggravating; the stupid thing was severely restricting her range of movement.

She couldn’t get nearly as close to Peeta as she’d like to be with one arm strapped against her chest.

Things had started rationally enough between them when they got inside her apartment and out of the cold.

It wasn’t like she just climbed right on him the moment they walked through the door. She’d sworn to herself in his car that this wasn’t why she invited him in, but, well, Peeta just sat there _looking_ at her like that and dammit, she wasn’t made of stone.

  
Of course, she’d kissed him again.

“Are you sure this is,” Peeta began to speak, but when she grazed her teeth across the side of his neck his words dropped off as his pelvis thrust up against her. She moaned loudly, rubbing against his growing erection and feeling out of control in the best possible way. “Oh, that’s good, _god Katniss,_ but ah, is this okay?”

“Is what okay?” she whispered as her lips moved to explore behind his ear. It was a new favorite spot on his body, she decided, a place to bury her nose in his blond waves and get the most delicious whiffs of his skin.

Peeta really ought to shut up. There was too much of him she wanted to get her mouth on to waste their time talking.

He groaned when she latched onto the pressure point and began to suck lightly. “For us to, _oh..._ Katniss I can’t go to work with a hickey… is it okay for us to do this so soon?”  
  


She straightened up then and leaned back on his hard thighs to look at him. “Why are talking so much?” she teased- until she recognized the strain on his face. Not being exactly sure what that look meant, Katniss took a moment to examine him closely. “I’d almost think you don’t want to….”

  
A sudden, horrifying thought hit her and she scrambled off his lap. In her one-armed haste, her knee grazed his groin.

Peeta winced. 

“Sorry- I’m such an idiot,” she rambled, “You don’t want to have sex with me tonight, do you? Oh my god, I’m so stupid.”

Peeta’s eyes went wide, and a choked laughed escaped from his lips.

The sound made her stomach sink.

“Are you kidding me? Katniss....”

“What?” she whispered, staring straight ahead and angry with herself.

Katniss couldn’t look at him. Not that she blamed Peeta- no, a man had just as much of a right to say no as a woman did. She was modern, she wasn’t pushy. Katniss just wished he hadn’t looked at her that way.

Fuck. She never had been good at reading people.

Being this forward and aggressive wasn’t something Katniss did with men, ever, and now she was remembering why she’d always kept her inhibitions in check. The reality was hitting her like a cold bucket of water.

“Katniss-”

“I didn’t mean to pressure you,” She blurted out before losing her nerve. “I know this is only our first date, and I’m usually _not_ like that-”

“Katniss, will you look at me please?” He interrupted her, a hint of frustration evident in his voice. 

“Look, if you want to go, you can go.” She ignored his attempts to speak over her, instead, she simply released a torrent of word vomit to try to rectify the situation. 

Peeta stood up quickly- he was obviously getting irritated with her, so Katniss kept staring straight ahead. She was too embarrassed to make eye contact with him and subsequently, was very surprised when he knelt in front of her on the floor. 

She was even more surprised when he leaned in and kissed her firmly, his whole body involved in the action. His hand cradled the curve of her jaw as he leaned into her, and she whimpered when he slid his hand down her body and cupped her breast over her shirt. 

“I just meant because of your arm,” Peeta said roughly, pulling back from her mouth long enough to get the words out. “Of course I want to have sex with you. And this isn’t our first date, by the way,” he added. 

“What are you talking about?” Katniss asked, chasing his mouth as he pulled away. “Did my fall give me amnesia? I don’t remember any of these “dates.”'

He laughed, sliding a hand under the hem of her shirt before hesitating and removing it in favor of unbuttoning it instead.

“Well, it’s a fair question. You can’t count a half-hour at the bar or a hospital visit as a date,” she said. 

Her sense of self-loathing had evaporated into pure euphoria. She couldn’t believe they were going to do this. 

“The fuck I can’t,” Peeta said easily, causing a definite surge of wetness to flood her nether regions. She’d never wanted anything so badly in her life as she wanted him.

His eyes dropped from her face suddenly, and not because he was admiring her body, she realized. Peeta was looking fixedly at the sling over her shoulder. He’d only managed to get a few of her buttons undone before the strap got in the way.

“I can take this off if you help me,” she told him, sitting up and raising her arm so that he could slide the whole thing over her head.

Peeta bit his lip, studying it for a moment before moving into action. “Let me know if I’m hurting you?” he asked quietly before slipping it off.

“You won’t,” she reassured him. 

“There we are,” Peeta tossed the sling to the far end of the couch before returning to the buttons on her shirt. He kissed her softly as he unfastened them one by one, and she could feel the slightest brush of his fingers on her skin, moving down her body so slowly Katniss thought she might pass out from the anticipation. When he released the last button, Peeta spread her shirt open, pulling away from her mouth to look at her uncovered form. 

“I can’t believe you thought I didn’t want this,” he said in amazement, running a finger in the valley between her breasts. He let out a shuttered breath. “You’re so pretty, Katniss.”

Funny enough, she felt pretty, watching as he grazed the upper curve of her breast, his finger moving down and just dipping inside the material of her bra. He was only a hair's breadth from her areola when she let out a soft little whine. 

Peeta bit his lip, watching as goose-flesh erupted all over her body.

His gaze was too intense, and so she decided that her bare breasts would be a good distraction from the way he was staring at her. “I’d do it myself, but I don’t think I can,” Katniss said awkwardly, her good hand going behind her back, trying to unsnap her bra. 

Peeta kissed her again as his arms went around her. He didn’t immediately remove the offending undergarment, instead just taking the opportunity to run his hands up and down the length of her back, the motion arousing but also oddly comforting, soothing whatever nervous feelings she had left.

“Your skin is so soft,” he mumbled, his mouth dropping lower to kiss the curve of her neck. “I’d never get tired of touching you,” he pushed the straps over her shoulders as he laid kisses there. She shivered.

“Are you cold?” He asked, looking up at her, his eyes warm and tender. “I want you to be comfortable.”

“No,” she told him honestly, “but can you take your shirt off too? I feel a little funny that you still have on all your clothes.”

Peeta sat back just far enough to grasp his sweater and t-shirt by the collar and tug them over his head. 

Katniss let out a nervous laugh at the sight of his bare torso.

He looked down at himself, puzzled with her reaction. “Yeah, I know I don’t work out much anymore. Sorry if you were expecting something else.”

_I’m an idiot_ , she thought. Katniss touched him gingerly. He seemed to be stiffening up, and she needed to put a stop to that. “That’s not it, you have a ni..ce body,” she stuttered, her face heating at the admission. She was terrible at this stuff.

It was true. He wasn’t super defined, just firm and naturally muscular. Katniss didn’t go for guys who looked like they spent half their lives working out, anyway, but hell- Peeta could’ve been downright paunchy at this point and she wouldn’t have cared.

“I just didn’t think you’d be hairy,” she admitted, embarrassed at her childish reaction.

Not that he looked like a Yeti or anything.

“You never used to be.”

Peeta smiled. “I had to shave for wrestling in high school,” he explained in a nice way that did nothing to prevent her from feeling like an idiot for not realizing that sooner. She’d always been kind of oblivious to that sort of stuff.

Katniss nodded, almost to herself, as her hand went lower, her fingers trailing to the patch of skin above his navel. He shuddered as she went lower, her ultimate goal being the prominent bulge in his pants when Peeta finally stopped her with a question. “Would you be more comfortable in bed?”

She nodded, kissing him again as he helped her to her feet. “Let’s go.”

  
  
  


Once they were in her bedroom, the first thing to go was her bra, finally. 

Katniss sighed as Peeta slid the straps off her shoulders. “I hate these,” she admitted, “they’re stupid, especially for someone like me who doesn’t even need them.” 

Despite how much she wanted to have sex with him she was still nervous, thus the babbling about her undergarments. 

It was nerve-wracking enough sleeping with someone new, but it was Peeta and she wanted it to be good and she was sure that she didn’t want it to be just this one time with him and they hadn’t even _talked_ about any of this beforehand...

“Well, I love what they hold,” he told her, the backs of his fingers softly brushing against the swells. He bent his head to kiss the side of her neck, and she found that his hands and lips on her body did cause her brain to mostly shut off it’s higher reasoning.

She was too excited to be nervous, turning into a puddle of raw feeling as Peeta’s hand covered her breast, his thumb rubbing a slow pattern across the nipple. 

She stood on her tiptoes to get as close to him as she could. It was exquisite having the length of his bare upper body pressed against hers as she leaned into him. His hand dropped from her breast, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close against him. She wrapped her arm around his neck, frantically meeting his mouth with hers. 

Katniss closed her eyes in bliss. She really couldn’t get enough of kissing him. His exploration of her mouth was wet and deep, and the feel of her taut nipples rubbing against his chest as his hands wandered, touching every inch of her bare skin, was driving her crazy. 

“We keep getting sidetracked,” Peeta said finally, gasping for air every time he pulled back.

She nodded and stumbled back a little, lost in the haze of desire, and her hand went to the button of her pants, suddenly in a desperate hurry to get them off. Katniss felt, rather than saw, his hand pushing hers away as he stepped after her like he couldn’t stand to have his hands off of her for even a moment.

“Can I?” he asked, running a finger around the inside of her waistband. “Please?”

“Yeah,” she breathed out, waiting as he unpopped the button. Peeta put his hands on her waist, his thumbs brushing just inside her panties as he pushed them down her legs, quickly with a definite sense of urgency. 

She helped him when gravity took the material as far as they would go, leaning into him and shaking one leg and then the other to get them off. “There’s no sexy way to do this,” she said, laughing at herself.

“Everything you do is sexy,” he countered.

Katniss stood back and took a good long look at Peeta as he dealt with his pants. He was just completely fucking perfect in every way, she decided, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. She liked his impossibly broad shoulders and muscular arms, as well as the little roll of extra padding just visible at his waistline. Her hand went to his bare hip when his clothes were completely gone. He shuddered at her touch. She wondered if everything felt too intense for him, just like her.

Katniss also had a sudden urge to get down on her knees and kiss every inch of him. She’d never experienced that blind lust before; not that she particularly minded reciprocating if a guy was, ah, _generous_ in bed, it was just that she didn’t have one single memory of drooling at the thought of having a cock in her mouth. 

But that would have to wait. For one thing, Katniss wasn’t sure if she could get up off the floor with one working arm. 

And for another, she didn’t want Peeta to think she was completely bat-shit crazy.

Katniss reached for his hand, pulling him along as she walked toward her bed. She sat on the edge, scooting backward to make room for him. “Maybe we should have waited,” she said ruefully as he followed her across the sheets, his eyes intense and wholly focused on her naked body. “I can’t be too involved with my arm like this.”

“I don’t care,” Peeta said softly. She laid back as he climbed over her on his hands and knees, caging her in with his body. “I’ll do all the work.”

And then his lips were there again, parting her mouth to get a taste inside. He held his weight off her as they kissed, but Katniss found herself arching up into him, wanting to feel the whole length of his body pressed against hers.

While their mouths played with each other, she used her good arm to explore where she could, running her hand over his hard biceps and shoulders. Splaying her fingers wide, she moved to his chest, his abdomen, and around his side.

He groaned, flinching slightly when she got to this little spot behind his waist. Katniss could tell he was trying not to laugh as she twirled her fingertips lightly. 

“Ticklish?” she broke away from kissing him to tease, doing it again.

Peeta flinched again, before leaning to one side and taking her hand. He kissed her deeper, distractingly, and slid her hand further down to his backside. “I like that spot better,” he said, his voice quivering a little. “Directly in front would be even better.”

Katniss snorted a little, and couldn’t stop herself from squeezing the firm curve of his ass. It was like the rest of him, irresistible and all hers for tonight, and she really couldn’t believe she was naked in her bed with Peeta Mellark and things were light and playful with him like they’d been in a relationship for years.

She smiled against his mouth, but that quickly changed over to moaning when he ground the hard length of his cock against the inside of her hip. 

Katniss wished she had two free hands. 

Peeta tore his mouth away from hers and moved down her body, kissing her in a southward path until he reached her breasts. She ran her hand through his hair when he stopped to nuzzle her lightly, placing soft little kisses everywhere but the place where she wanted him to, ignoring her nipples as his hand crept up the inside of her thigh. 

Her legs spread apart beneath him without a single conscious thought when he finally sucked her nipple into his mouth. She writhed beneath him, the hot pressure tingling in a path directly to the apex of her thighs. She arched her back off the bed when he applied more pressure to the taut little peaks, first one and then the other. Katniss found herself gasping like a porn star at one point, and would have been genuinely bemused at her behavior if she’d still had a single brain cell devoted to thinking.

His hand reached her wet slit, and Peeta touched her with deft fingers, spreading her swollen lips apart. He caressed through her folds with a light touch, and she could feel his rapid breath expelling around the moisture on her breasts. 

Katniss was ridiculously, embarrassingly wet when he slid first one finger, then two inside her sleek channel. His thumb rubbed the space above. “Is that good?” Peeta whispered. “I want you to feel so good.” His face was up by her neck again, and the feel of his hot breath dancing across the shell of her ear did something new to Katniss. She went silent as her body seized up, and she rode his hand as she climaxed around his thick fingers.

Instead of leaving her satiated, the euphoria made her hungrier for him than ever before. “There are some condoms in the drawer,” she told him breathlessly, hardly recognizing the sound of her voice.

Peeta moved to get one, scooting across the bed rapidly, before coming back with the speed of a man who was more than ready to have sex. 

“I’m on the pill too,” she told him as he opened the foil wrapper. “I’m…” she hesitated, feeling slightly embarrassed to be having this conversation with him right now. Everything had developed so fast between them over the last few days. “I’m clean. I don’t usually do this so soon,” she admitted, anxious to hear what he had to say. “What about you?”

Peeta looked down at her. “Not usually, no. It’s been a while since my last girlfriend, and I haven’t been with anyone since her. We were both clean, so yeah, I’m good.” 

Katniss found that she kind of hated this girl instinctually. But that was her problem. They were both adults who’d never had a claim on each other before this week. Jealousy was ridiculous, it was just that there was a part of her who felt like Peeta belonged to her already. 

That was dangerous.

“How do you want to do this?” He asked then, rolling the condom on. Katniss stared at him dumbly, casually kneeling in front of her the way that he was in all his naked glory, his cock still in his hand. She was understandably distracted.

“I don’t know if I should be on top,” Peeta said. “I’m kind of afraid I’ll hurt you that way.”

“Oh.” _Oh_. 

She hadn’t thought that far. “It would probably be okay,” she said, nervous about what he might suggest otherwise. She didn’t have a broad repertoire of sexual positions. And since she still felt good from the orgasm he just gave her, it would probably be fine if he just wanted to finish himself. It wasn’t like she’d done anything for him, he didn’t owe her anything.

Katniss felt a little disappointed by the idea of things being over so soon, but there was always next time. 

If he called her again, that was.

“Here, scoot over,” Peeta said gently. She made room for him and he laid on his side next to her. He propped himself up so that he could kiss her, his mouth deep and searching. His hand glided across her body until finally stopping to nudge his fingers between her thighs, where he touched her relentlessly. Eventually, when they were both breathless and panting, he broke away from the kiss, leaving Katniss feeling like she was not ready to call it a night. 

“Roll onto your side?” he asked, his hand going to her left thigh to help.

She acquiesced at his rough but gentle tone, shivering once she was on her side and Peeta’s stocky, firm body was curving around the back of hers. She could feel his hard chest and his firm legs, so much larger than hers, surrounding and enfolding her while his free hand ran down her body. Peeta wrapped his large hand around her thigh and lifted it up and over his, leaving her spread wide open like some sort of deviant offering, exposed and vulnerable and ready to be devoured.

It was really fucking fantastic. 

Katniss pressed back against him, where the hard length of his cock was nestled in the curve of her ass. Her body was on fire, and he was so warm and solid and just, god, she didn’t have words for how good he felt.

“I’ve never actually done it this way before,” she breathed, definitely not ready for things to be over yet, as she felt him shift. Her words were muffled by the fact that her face was turned into the pillow. She only had the nerve to say them out loud because she wasn’t looking at him.

Peeta kissed the back of her neck. “Don’t worry about it. You’re thinking too hard,” he whispered. His breath on her skin made Katniss squirm against him in anticipation, and he groaned when she pressed back against his cock. She pushed back against him again in response, it felt so good and those _noises_ he was making, and then she almost died when he let out a low sound that was suspiciously like a growl.

No longer hesitating, Peeta seemed to shift his hips down and then up, using his hand to angle her pelvis backward and then, _oh my god,_ he was there, impossibly hard and pushing inside of her. She arched helplessly again him, the muscles of her inner walls fluttering, her body thanking her once again for doing this with him tonight as he seated himself far inside of her. He was so deep and hard and-

Oh. My. God.

“Fuck,” he muttered against the back of her neck, seeming to need a moment to get ahold of himself. She understood the feeling perfectly. Peeta made her feel like a bomb getting ready to detonate.

And once again, to her mortification, Katniss moaned like some damn porn star as he began thrusting inside her but she. just. couldn’t. help. it. 

There was nothing remotely like acting going on between them, just complete and total sensory overload at the feel of him all around her and inside her. 

Everything felt like too much in the best way, his fingertips rubbing her clit as she lay there helplessly as he thrust in and out of her, the ridge of his cock rubbing in _just the right spot oh my god…._

On and on he went, pausing to slow his rhythm when she felt her walls begin to flutter lightly from another impending climax. Peeta would lighten the pressure from his fingertips at the same time until she’d gasp out his name, and then he’d start all over again. 

His body was an instrument of pure exquisite torture, and he was leaving Katniss a shaking, shuddering mess. They were hot and sweaty and sliding against each other in a soaked mess by the time she’d had enough of his teasing. Katniss finally reaching behind her, digging her fingernails into his thigh. Peeta groaned, “holy _fuck_ ,” pushing himself as far inside her as he could while she ground down on his cock with her hips.

And then Katniss had to bite down on her arm to try and keep from shouting so loud that her neighbors below would think about calling the police at the moment when the hardest, longest orgasm of her life overtook her.

“ _Katniss_ ,” Peeta gasped one last time as the muscles of her inner walls pulled him impossibly deep inside, wrenching his climax from him with spasms so hard she could feel the aftereffects down to her knees.

Her legs trembled with the lingering aftershocks as she rolled onto her side, gasping as if she’d just run a mile. She moved just far enough to let him slip out and felt the bed move as he laid down behind her. Katniss followed, flopping onto her back beside him.

Peeta’s face was heavily flushed, his hair soaking wet. His lips were swollen and his eyes were bright, and somehow after what they’d just done, she felt desire stirring low in her belly again. She’d never get enough of him.

“Do you want to stay?” she asked quietly after they’d both taken time to catch their breath.

Peeta nodded, but just barely. He looked half-asleep already. “Yeah,” he said, rolling over to wrap one arm around her waist and pull her closer, nuzzling against her bare shoulder. “I don’t think I could move right now if I wanted to.”

Katniss felt ridiculously happy. 

Peeta yawned loudly. “Katniss...” he began but hesitated like he was fighting off sleep.

She turned slightly, looking his way in the darkness of her bedroom. “Yeah?”

“Just, ah... thanks,” he said, opening his eyes and leaning over to kiss her lightly. “Next time, I’ll come to pick you up. You can stay at my place for the weekend. There’s a lot more to do in the city.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Last Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little conclusion, happy reading!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One year later...

“Why did we agree to come out with these idiots tonight?” Katniss asked, leaning back against Peeta’s broad chest. They were alone for the moment, Johanna busy getting a drink at the bar while Finnick and Annie were taking a turn on the floor, slow dancing to Wham!’s _Last_ _Christmas_. 

The bar was crowded, just as loud as ever and once again full of revelers home for the holidays in Panem. There was the usual assortment of college kids meeting up with friends from high school, along with a diverse mix of late twenty-year-olds, like their group of friends, clear up through the middle-aged crowd who were regulars to _Karaoke with Haymitch_ night and weren’t letting the onslaught of younger blood keep them home. There were still terrible versions of Bob Seger songs to be sung, after all.

Peeta wrapped his arm across her chest and pulled her back so she rested snugly between his parted legs. “It’s kind of fitting, isn’t it?” he said. “I remember how good you looked in that short little dress last year.” 

The words floated across her neck. When Katniss shivered in response, he chuckled, planting a kiss right beneath her ear. 

“Yeah, right before I gave myself a concussion,” she said. “But as long as I looked good, huh?”

“You know what I mean,” he said.

“Not to mention the fact that I just about froze my ass off. I’m sure I gave everyone quite a show when I fell off the stage.”

“No you didn’t,” he nuzzled behind her ear before kissing her there again, “Haymitch covered you up with a tablecloth until the paramedics showed up.”

She didn’t respond to his last comment, too mesmerized by his wandering hands. “You shouldn’t do that in public,” she told him as ran his finger around the waistline of her leggings. Katniss sucked in her breath when he slipped them underneath the bottom of her sweater, stroking her navel.

“But it’s dark in here. No one will see,” he said. She could feel the increasing pressure of his interest, hard and insistent against her backside. 

Katniss licked her lips.

“They’re going to be back soon,” her breath caught as his fingertips slipped beneath her pants to stroke her hip bone. “That’s not fair,” she said, squirming in her seat.

He laughed, the sound gruff. “What’s not fair is coming here first when I haven’t seen you all week,” Peeta said. “I missed you.”

“I noticed,” Katniss said, trying to affect a nonchalant tone but failing miserably as his hand wandered lower beneath her pants, his fingertips brushing the silky edge of her panties where they rested low on her pelvis.

She heard him let out a breath. “Are these new?” he asked a note of aroused curiosity in his voice, his lips teasing the side of her neck again.

Her eyes dropped to the place where he was touching her, and she felt her vision go a little hazy. “I was going to show them to you later. Consider them a ‘housewarming’ gift,” she said.

“They’re doing a great job.”

Katniss felt his fingers tense against the edge of her panties then, noticing Jo’s approach out of the corner of her eye, carrying a drink in each hand back from the bar. 

A disappointing feeling overtook her as he pulled his hand back. 

“Later,” Peeta promised in a low voice as Jo set the drinks on the table, “I’m going to take those off with my teeth.”

Her eyes went wide. She turned her head to look at him.

Peeta grinned at her unrepentantly. 

“So, you got everything moved in yet?” Jo asked before Katniss had a chance to squeak out an answer, sliding the jack and coke she’d requested across the table.

“Not quite,” he said, his arm settling around Katniss’s waist in a much more PG-rated way than his earlier touch. 

It didn’t do much to cool her raging libido. They’d both been busy, Peeta wrapping things up with his old job in the Capitol, while she’d had extra things at work to deal with before she could take the rest of the week off. They hadn’t gone this long without seeing each other since they began dating last Christmas. She’d had too much going on to think about it until now but fuck it- they needed to get out of here soon. 

“I have the rest of the month to get everything out of my apartment. One more trip should do it,” Peeta said, taking a sip of his water. 

“Yeah, and speaking of that,” Katniss said, “we’ve got a lot of boxes to unpack tomorrow, so maybe we should call it a night.”

Peeta smiled at her. “Yeah, we have a lot of of...things to take care of, don’t we?” he said.

Jo frowned, setting her glass back on the table mid-drink. “But you haven’t even sung yet! What Christmas is complete without you and Mariah Carey?”

“That seals it,” Katniss said. “Peeta, let’s go.”

“But-” Jo began; the two of them didn’t even look at her as Peeta held up Katniss’s coat for her while she slid her arms into the sleeves. 

“Later Jo,” Katniss said as Peeta pulled her hair out of the back of her coat.

“Bye,” he added, “tell Fin and Annie we’ll see them later.”

“Horny fuckers,” Jo muttered under her breath as she watched the bar door close behind them mere seconds later. Then she shrugged, reaching for Katniss’s unfinished drink. There was no need to let it go to waste after all. 

“Maybe next year they’ll have it out of their systems.”

Haymitch’s voice came over the speakers then, and Jo smirked to herself. 

Katniss had left just in time. 

“ _Next up is Katniss with….”_ the old man swore, “ _dammit Jo, I told you. 'No All I Want For Christmas Is You'.”_

Jo stirred her newly-acquired drink innocently as Haymitch looked around the crowded bar.

_“Sweetheart? Sweetheart? Hmm, it looks like maybe Katniss is gone already. Probably for the best.”_ The old man laughed at his joke before continuing. _“Okay then folks, that means next up is, err, Seneca Crane and ‘Night Moves’.”_

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this silly Christmastime story. Comments and kudos are love, people, if you're feeling it.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
